Google announced that starting in March 2024, the platform will no longer be able to collect and store data, reports, or cookies without visitors’ consent. The change can significantly impact online merchants who rely on these tools for reports and campaign optimization. In the following article, we will delve into the implications of the new consent-based policy for online store managers, and find out what actionable strategies can be implemented for overcoming these changes, especially for Magento store owners.

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This change poses a few challenges for businesses, even more for those in the eCommerce zone. The inability to automatically collect data such as user behavior, preferences, and engagement patterns could affect the efficacy of personalized advertising and analytics. For e-commerce, this translates to potential hurdles in optimizing user experience, understanding customer journeys, and effectively executing retargeting campaigns.

The Current Google Tags System

Google Tags, particularly through Google Tag Manager (GTM), play a crucial role in how businesses collect data and optimize their online campaigns.

Google Tag Manager allows website owners to manage and deploy marketing tags (snippets of code or tracking pixels) on their website or mobile app without having to modify the code. When a user visits a website, these tags collect specific data based on their interactions. This can include page views, form submissions, link clicks, and e-commerce activities like adding items to a shopping cart. 

The collected data is then sent to Google Analytics and other marketing analysis tools. By analyzing the data collected through these tags, businesses can make informed decisions about their online marketing strategies. They can identify which channels are most effective, understand user engagement, and optimize their campaigns for better performance and higher return on investment (ROI).

To manage how Google tags behave based on the consent status of the users, Google introduced a feature called Consent Mode. For example, if a user does not consent to cookies or other tracking technologies, Consent Mode can configure Google services on the website to respect this choice.

One of the innovative aspects of Consent Mode is that it allows for basic measurement and modelled analytics data even when users do not consent to the use of cookies. This means that website owners can still gather some level of anonymized data (like basic site traffic) which is crucial for understanding site performance.

Until now, Google Consent Mode was optional. The use of a Google-certified consent management platform was also optional.

What will change

Starting with March, there are two major changes that Google is implementing.

First, the use of Google Consent Mode v2 will be mandatory for all online businesses that use Google services. Websites will be required to display a consent banner from a Google certified Consent Management Platform (CMP), to inform users about how many cookies they use and why they use them, as well as to collect user consent.

Second, Google’s behavior when counting advertising campaigns (e.g. tracking orders) is changing: counting only happens if the user has given their consent and The corresponding signal was returned to Google via Google Consent Mode v2. 

This means that if you want to measure conversions in the future, a certified CMP that works with Google Consent Mode v2 is important.

Implications for Online Store Owners

For online store owners, it is not a matter of ‘IF’ and more a matter of ‘HOW TO IMPLEMENT IT”. The requirement to use a certified Consent Management Platform (CMP) for displaying consent banners will necessitate a review and possible change of existing consent mechanisms, to ensure compliance with the new standards, potentially affecting website user experience. 

Secondly, the new focus on user consent will directly impact data collection and campaign optimization. Tracking conversions and other key metrics will now hinge on user consent, possibly leading to reduced data availability. This reduction in data can challenge the effectiveness of targeted advertising and campaign optimization, as the granularity and accuracy of user behavior insights might be diminished. 

Luckily, Consent Mode v2 introduces an innovative “advanced” function which, when activated, adds two secondary parameters that allow the collection of minimal, anonymized events or conversions, even in instances where a user does not provide consent, whether by not selecting anything or by denying cookies. This enhancement enables businesses to gather essential insights while still adhering to privacy guidelines.

Adapting to the change

To get your Magento shop ready for this change, there are two options: choosing a CMP partner, or manually implementing each consent event.

The simple and quick option is choosing a CMP partner and integrating it with your eCommerce platform. At this point in time, there isn’t a complete Magento Module that ticks all the boxes for a seamless and complete Consent Mode V2 integration. This will change in future, but as of today, it is better to stick with the platforms suggested by Google Tag manager – CMP Consentmanager and Cookiebot CMP.

Unfortunately, Cookiebot CMP doesn’t offer integration with Magento and this would imply an extensive intervention in the code.

CMP ConsentManager, on the other hand, is much more straightforward. The installation is easy and setups related to pop-ups and what should be displayed on the site are intuitive. However, frontend developers will have to style the pop-up to match their respective theme.

Once the integration is done, the platform requires a considerable amount of parameters to be set right, but they do offer a comprehensive documentation to ensure everything is done right. Modifications in GTM, tags, and triggers related to consent have to be done, too and this is the time when collaboration between the dev team and the marketing team must really shine. There will be a lot of work associating vendors with the types of cookies used, setting up cookies and access conditions for users. All this will imply a lot of going back and forth and testing which means that collaboration between the two teams must be top-notch.

The second variant – manually implementing each consent event – is also possible, and as usual, Google has provided comprehensive guidelines for developers. However, the fact that this option implies many development hours and a hefty bill from your agency at the end of the month, makes it the least viable option.

Conclusions

The upcoming changes by Google in March 2024 present significant challenges for online store owners, but while the mandatory use of Google Consent Mode v2 and certified CMPs for consent banners will require a review of current practices, it also opens up the way for a more transparent and user-consent-focused eCommerce. 

Given that manually implementing each consent event is time-consuming and expensive, the more efficient route seems to be opting for a CMP. In this instance, CMP ConsentManager, in particular, appears well-documented and user-friendly, making it one of the best alternatives for ensuring compliance, while maintaining the same level of user experience.

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